Subject: Alzheimer's related EMF bioeffect?? (guru)..
Date: Wed, 22 Mar 2000 071142 -0600 (CST)
From: "Roy L. Beavers"
To: emfguru
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Hi everybody:
We have some scientists on this list who have an interest in
EMF bioeffects which might be a cause or contributing factor
in the incidence of Alzheimer's......
Former President Reagan's daughter, Maureen, recently testified
before a congressional committee about the increasing incidence
(worldwide?) of this debilitating disease.
The following Associated Press news report highlights the results
of some recent research which suggests that the formation of two
proteins in the brain, beta-amyloid and tau, may be an important
factor. In the past, some EMF-L discussion has noted that EMF/EMR
exposure may act upon the surface of cells - where protein formation
takes place. Dr. Eugene Sobel (University of Southern Cal.) has
conducted epidemiological research which showed a rather strong
association between Alzheimer's and EMF, though the number of subjects
was too small to allow any definite conclusion.
If we had a government program (NIH or wherever) that was honestly
seeking to explain the serious Alzheimer's illness, one would expect
the following research to immediately trigger some serious investigation
into the possible EMF impact on the beta-amyloid and tau proteins
in the brain......
But we don't have any such government program that is honestly seeking
to explain the serious Alzheimer's illness -- certainly not if it would
require INDEPENDENT scientific investigation of the product of what
is presently the two most powerful "vested interest" lobbying industries
in our society..... The electrical/electronic industries.....
Cheerio..... (Interesting report below....)
Roy Beavers (EMFguru)
roy@emfguru.com
.....It is better to light a single candle than to curse the darkness.....
NEW!!! Website... http://emfguru.com
...................People are more important than profits.................
Missed opportunity...
$$$$$ We could have changed the corrupted system!! $$$$$
McCain !!
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01:29 AM ET 03/22/00
Protein Deposits, Alzheimer's Link
By LINDSEY TANNER=
Associated Press Writer=
CHICAGO (AP) _ Certain protein deposits in the brains of
Alzheimer's victims may be a cause of the mind-robbing disease _
not just a symptom, researchers suggested today.
Autopsies on 79 nursing home patients confirmed that
beta-amyloid protein plays a role in the earliest stages of
Alzheimer's, even before symptoms of dementia appear, the
researchers reported in today's Journal of the American Medical
Association.
Sticky plaques of beta-amyloid in the brain and tangles of a
protein known as tau inside brain nerve fibers are two of the
distinguishing features of Alzheimer's, which affects more than 4
million Americans.
Scientists disagree over which feature may play a more central
role in the destruction of brain cells. And some believe that the
plaques and tangles are actually markers left by nerve cells killed
by some other unknown cause.
The study's authors favor the beta-amyloid theory because they
found that the presence of beta-amyloid preceded development of tau
protein in the brain's frontal cortex.
In an accompanying editorial, Dr. Dennis J. Selkoe, a
neurologist at Harvard's Brigham and Women's Hospital, called the
conclusion exciting and said it could lead to new ways to diagnose
and treat Alzheimer's.
``This work, coupled with early work, clearly points to amyloid
build-up as the cause,'' said Selkoe, who holds a stake in Elan
Corp., which is testing a vaccine aimed at preventing beta-amyloid
accumulation.
But an executive at the Alzheimer's Association said the study
does not prove what causes the disease.
``What it doesn't tell us is which comes first, the chicken or
the egg _ the disease or beta-amyloid,'' said William Theis, vice
president for medical and scientific affairs at the Alzheimer's
Association.
The authors, led by neuroscientist Jan Naslund of Rockefeller
University in New York, studied autopsy results on 63 patients with
mild to severe dementia believed to be caused by Alzheimer's and 16
mentally healthy patients.
Increases of beta-amyloid in brain tissue were associated with
increasing severity of mental decline, with the highest levels of
beta-amyloid found in the brains of patients with the greatest
degree of dementia.
Abnormal beta-amyloid levels were also found even in patients
without dementia. The researchers said those patients would have
gone on to develop full-blown Alzheimer's had they lived.
There were already significant levels of beta-amyloid found in
early dementia patients with no tangles in the frontal cortex, said
Dr. Joseph Buxbaum, a co-author and head of the molecular
neuropsychiatry laboratory at Mount Sinai School of Medicine in New
York. Buxbaum said that suggests beta-amyloid ``must be a cause.''
Buxbaum said his study is a boost to research aimed at finding
ways to block accumulation of beta-amyloid.
___=
On the Net: National Library of Medicine site on Alzheimer's
disease: http://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/alzheimersdisease.html
Alzheimer's Association site: http://www.alz.org
_________________________________________________________________
Archive provided courtesy of WaveGuide, http://www.wave-guide.org
Reprinted with permission of Roy Beavers, http://www.emfguru.com